The Air New Zealand Cup sucks (apparently) and is looking at a make-over, again. Three changes in three years. So if everyone else is changing it, why not me?

Now this may take a while, so if you want to read this post you'll need to click "read more"
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Here is my tournament and I have no doubt that this will bring in the punters and increase revenue:

Tournament:
Teams:
Auckland; Waikato; Bay of Plenty; Taranaki; Hawkes Bay; Manuwatu North Harbour; Wellington; Canterbury; Otago; Southland.

Regular Season:
The tournament starts in mid-August and goes for 9 weeks. It will be a round-robin format with no bye-week.

There will be a bye-week between the regular season and the post-season when the promotion/relegation match (see below) will be played.

Each week during the season a game will be held on Friday night (kick-off no later than 7.35pm) and Saturday night (kick-off no later than 7.35pm). The remaining three games will be played on Saturday with kick-off no later than 3.35pm.

Post-season:
There will be a two week post-season of semis and a final. The venue will be decided on regular season results (better record gets home-field advantage). The semi-final format is 1st plays 4th and 2nd plays 3rd.

There will also be a promotion/relegation match played in the week between the regular season and post-season of the tournament. This match will be between the tenth-placed team in the first division and the first-placed in the second division (see below for promotion/relegation rules).

If the games is tied at the end of any post-season match, ten minutes extra time will be added (five minutes each way). If the game is still tied after that, ten minutes extra time will be added (five minutes each way) and the first team to score in any fashion wins. If the game is still tied after that, the teams shall either have a count-back on tries or have a dropkick penalty shootout to decide the winner.

All post-season matches will be played on a Saturday with kick-off no later than 7.35pm and at least one game with a kick-off no later than 3.35pm.

Ranfurly Shield:
The team that holds the Ranfurly Shield must defend it at every home game; this includes post-season and pre-season matches.

Competition standings:
There will be no competition points and no bonus points. Standings will be decided on the win-loss record.

The first tie breaker between teams on even standings is points differential, if that is a draw then it will be which team won in the regular season match between the two, if that is a draw then it will be number of tries, in the incredibly unlikely event of a draw after all of that it will be decided by a coin toss.

Relegation/Promotion:
The winner of the Relegation/Promotion game will be part of the first division in the following year if the team can prove it will be financially viable.

Money:
Revenue sharing:
The gate-takings from every match and 75% of the broadcast rights revenue will be placed into a shared pool which will then be divided evenly amongst all teams. All other revenue (merchandise, corporate boxes, season tickets etc) will be exclusive to individual teams.

Salary Cap:
The Salary Cap shall be set at $1.5M per team for the 2009 season and increase with inflation for the following three years after which time it will be reviewed.

No team is allowed to exceed the salary cap at any time (including the off season). Teams can allocate one "franchise player" whose salary does not count against the salary cap. This player's status cannot change until their contract expires or they are traded (see below).

Players can receive money for endorsements or other paid duties as long as the money received is not an inducement to play for a particular team.

Each team must spend a minimum of $800,000 on player salaries in the 2009 season. This amount will increase with inflation for the following three years after which time it will be reviewed. This is the Salary Floor.

Sponsorship:
Each team is allowed to seek corporate sponsorship. Individual players can be sponsored, if the funds do not go to the player.

Broadcasting:
National broadcasting rights for the tournament will be sold as individual games. Broadcasters will submit tenders for each game. At least one game per week must be shown live on free-to-air television. All games must be available to view for free on the internet after the game has been completed.

International broadcasting rights will be sold as a package of all games. The international broadcaster must provide at least one game per week for free on the internet after the game has been completed.

Players:
All Blacks:
All Blacks must seek special dispensation from All Black management to play in the tournament. Any All Black playing in a tournament team and still receiving money from the NZRU will count against a team's salary cap to the amount of their NZRU contract.

Contracts:
Player contracts are pro-rateable over the length of the contract. Players can be paid a signing bonus that is paid in the first year of the contract but the salary cap hit is spread out over the length of the contract.

Example: Player A is signed to a four-year $700K contract with a signing bonus of $100K.
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Player contracts can be renegotiated at any time.

Trades:
Player contracts are tradable. Players can be traded for other players or draft picks (see below) any combination of those, but not for money. Teams are free to determine what they believe is a fair trade. Players may have trade veto clauses in their contracts. Teams that accept a player in trade will take control of that player's contract and any associated salary cap hit.

Teams cannot approach a player (or their agent) until that player has completed their previous contract. Any team found doing so will be fined for "tampering".

Loans:
Players cannot be loaned between teams.

Player Draft:
The draft will occur one week after the announcement of the first All Black team. The draft will consist of seven rounds of picks. Each team can have a maximum of eleven picks (obtained through trades).

Any player with two or fewer years experience in the tournament at the end of the season and not on contract must enter the player draft. Players with no experience in the tournament must enter the draft and cannot be contracted until they do so. Prior to the draft, teams can name two players from their catchment area who are exempt from the draft. The team must contract these players for a minimum of one year.

Draft selection order will be determined by team's final standings at the end of the previous season (i.e. the last place team last season will pick first and the fist place team will pick last). Players may choose not to sign with the team who drafted them, however, they will not be allowed to play in the tournament and will have to re-enter the draft in the next season.

Teams can negotiate a contract prior to the draft, but the contract can only be signed after the player has been drafted.

Any player not selected at the end of the draft is a "free agent" and can be contracted by any team.